Magenta mastermind Robert Reed has begun work on the follow-up to solo album Sanctuary.
And although it has a working title of Sanctuary II, neither the name nor the material he’s already written might make the final cut.
Reed tells Prog: “At the moment the album has two long pieces and I have a few ideas for some shorter tracks. I’ve really gone off the idea of long albums at the moment – especially as the music is quite dense.
“I’ve been writing and demoing for a few months and finally I got enough of a structure to start recording properly. But the way I work means it’s yet to be seen how much will survive. I really like every second to count. If something’s not working I’ll erase it.”
He’s also planning to perform Sanctuary live in the coming months, and he’s had the music scored to assist a 10-piece band in performing it. “Working out how to recreate it live is a nightmare,” he admits. “Obviously, I can’t play it all myself so I have to put together a live band.
“I’m just getting dates and venues sorted. It’s exciting – I really enjoyed making the album and the reaction was really positive.”
Meanwhile, Reed is finalising a list of guests to appear on his next work, which he expects to release early next year. “I should be able to announce them in the coming weeks,” he says.
More details will be confirmed in due course.
